


Bubbles!

by There_Once_Was_A_Girl



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Also Bubbles, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Soooo many bubbles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-21
Updated: 2016-06-21
Packaged: 2018-07-16 10:38:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7264657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/There_Once_Was_A_Girl/pseuds/There_Once_Was_A_Girl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eric Bittle meets Jack Zimmermann when he applies to be his assistant. Jack is a famous photographer in need of an extra pair of hands on a round the world photoshoot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bubbles!

**Author's Note:**

> So the other day I bought myself some bubbles (despite being an adult person, I have no shame) and was blowing bubbles out in my yard. I thought that the bubbles looked really cool as they floated into the woods. They just make an interesting contrast against nature. Anyway I think Jack would agree. So here's that. 
> 
> As always all characters do not belong to me.

Bitty really needed a job. His vlog gave him publicity, and a following, but not any money. The cookbook he was working on would help a lot if it sold. Hopefully he would eventually have enough for his own bakery, but he needed income. So he started looking for work, sending his resume out. He quickly found that he couldn’t find anything in his field (because what kind of field was American Studies with a focus in food culture?). So he just started looking for anything… Which was how he ended up here, interviewing with a famous photographer who needed an assistant. 

Jack Zimmermann was not what Bitty was expecting. He’s young for a start. Bitty knows the guy is reasonably well known, he’s really quite good. He did a thing for National Geographic the year before, that Bitty had actually seen and loved before he was applying for this job. Still, the guy looks not much older than Bitty. This is true, Bitty googled him and Zimmerman is in fact twenty-six to Bitty’s twenty-three. Somehow he was still expecting who looked more like an adult. Someone who didn’t look so goddamn much like a guy Bitty really wanted to date. Seriously, weren’t photographers supposed to be ugly? Something about being better behind a camera than in front of it? With his dark hair and blue eyes and frankly gorgeous jawline Jack Zimmermann looked more like he should be a model. He was ripped too. Apparently he had played hockey in college like Bitty had, different school though. Zimmermann had nearly gone professional but ended up as a photographer instead. 

“I’m going to be perfectly honest. I don’t know anything about photography.” Bitty confessed. Jack nodded mildly. 

“I know, that’s why I asked you to interview. I don’t want to work with someone who knows photography, it makes them think I might value their input.” He had an accent too. Jesus. 

“Well, that’ won’t be a problem here!” Bitty chuckled. “What do you need exactly? If you don’t want an assitant who knows photography.”

“Mostly I need an extra pair of hands. Help getting to and from my shoots and behind the scenes work once I’m there. Nothing awful, I’m capable of carrying most of my gear, but I can’t do everything I want to at once. The main thing I’m planning right now is going to end up taking us all over the world. There will be a lot of hiking and a good deal of camping involved at points. You said you were an athlete before, I hope you aren’t too out of shape, now.”

“Fit as a fiddle. I still help coach a kids hockey team, and I like to skate whenever I get the chance. Run too when I don’t have time for anything else. If it’s any help my father used to be a scoutmaster for the boy scouts, he took me camping a lot so I won’t be useless there.” Bitty answered. He honestly wasn’t sure why he wanted this job, but the idea of traveling around the world helping a famous photographer and getting paid pretty well for it sounded pretty good. Jack had said that he would pay for the travel and food so really besides endless hiking it sounded like a pretty easy gig. Besides if he could find a way to collect recipes in all of the places they traveled to he would be in heaven. 

After a few more questions Jack seemed perfectly satisfied. He made sure Bitty had his schedule and contact info. Bitty felt like he was high on the fact that he actually had a job! Also perhaps a little bit on how damn gorgeous his new boss was. 

“Well I’ll see you on Monday then Mr Zimmermann.” Bitty said standing to leave.

“Yes, thank you, Bittle.” Jack said with a small nod. 

“No thank you, really.” Bitty said quickly, “And you can call me Bitty if you want, everyone does. It’s an old Hockey nickname that just stuck.”

“My best friend from college was called Shitty, by everyone. No one on the team even knew his real name, just that it started with a B.” Jack said with a small smile. It was the first time he had smiled through the whole interview, Bitty was beginning to wonder if the guy was even capable of it. 

Overall, Eric Bittle left that day feeling distinctly happy and hopeful.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A little over a week later Bitty was trekking up a truly massive hill in Oregon. Honestly he would describe it as a mountain. Apparently this was still the easy end of all of this. There were actual mountains in their future. Bitty was glad that he really was in excellent shape. Still, Jack set a ruinous pace up the massive hill. The guy was in too good of shape for his own good. Bitty still wasn’t sure exactly what Jack was looking for. All the guy would say was that he wanted to find wild places, places untouched by man. From where he was above Bitty on the trail Jack stopped and looked down. 

“I’m going to head off trail, come on Bittle.” He beckoned. Bitty followed him, taking note of their direction so they wouldn’t get madly lost in this forest. He was getting the feeling that Jack might not care if they got lost in the woods as long as he got the shot he was looking for. They hiked their way through wildness for a while before they hit a gorgeous green clearing, with a small stream running down one side. 

“Perfect.” Jack said brightly. He set down his pack and pulled out his camera, adjusting the lens, focusing on the clearing from a few angles. Finally he let his camera hang from a strap around his neck. He fished in his backpack again and emerged with a small brightly colored bottle, turning and offering it to Bitty. For a moment Bitty couldn’t tell what it was. Then he was having trouble processing why on earth Jack was offering it to him. 

“Bubbles?” He asked at last, accepting the bright yellow bottle with it’s familiar ‘Miracle Bubbles’ logo obscuring the top of the bubble wand which sat in the middle of the liguid in the translucent bottle. 

“Yes.” Jack agreed. “Bubbles.” He lifted his camera again. 

“Umm… what am I supposed to do with this?” Bitty asked. Jack turned back to him.

“Blow bubbles.” he said rolling his eyes, “Come on Bittle, you’re smarter than that. This is the project. I want to photograph the contrast between the bubbles and these beautiful wild green spaces all across the world. Bubbles are such an innately human thing, but so very innocent. I want to capture the juxtaposition of human innocence and wild spaces untouched by man.” he described.

“You’re telling me that you hired me to blow bubbles?” Eric demanded. Still incapble of truly comprehending this serious, professional, beautiful man, standing in front of him waxing poetic about bubbles.

“I hired you to be my assistant, which at this moment means blowing bubbles. Now will you just-?” He waved towards the clearing. Bitty nodded, starting to open the bubble juice. 

“Are you sure this isn’t some elaborate prank? Because I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that you are flying me all around the world,”

“Bittle.”

“To the most beautiful places ever…” Bitty continued undeterred. 

“Bittle.” There was a warning hint to Jack’s voice which Bitty ignored. 

“Paying for my food AND paying me a salary, just to blow bubbles.” He finished at last. Jack let out a long suffering sigh. 

“Bittle, will you just blow the bubbles before the light changes?” he asked, his voice patient but still full of warning. Bitty straightened. 

“Alright, bubbles, coming right up. Easy peasy.” He said brightly removing the bubble wand from the juice. 

As it turned out, blowing bubbles was not as easy as Bitty was expecting. Or at least blowing bubbles that Jack was satisfied with, that were the right size and floated in the right way, was not easy. He was always calling out that no he wanted a single big bubble, and it needed to be over by that leaf. Now he wanted a cloud of small bubbles. More than that, come on Bittle. No! That’s too many bubbles now. He was endlessly grumpy, ordering Bitty around the clearing to different spots. Bitty was starting to wonder if this was worth it, but then again… he really needed the money and traveling was great… Then Jack would snap at him again and he would wonder what on earth he was doing here in the middle of a forest in Oregon blowing bubbles. 

By the time they were headed down the massive hill though. Jack was in an excellent mood. He seemed really pleased with the shots he had gotten that day. Bitty offered to carry one of his bags and for once Jack actually accepted the offer. He was smiling too. Over dinner that night he chatted amiably, like they were friends, clearly still riding high on the thrill of having gotten the photos he wanted. 

“Good work today, Bittle.” He told Eric before they headed to sleep. Bitty smiled at him, but shook his head in complete confusion once Jack had looked away. This guy… this guy was something else…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Bittle! I need the bubbles to go that way!” Jack called out gesturing with a hand. 

“I can’t very well control the wind.” Bitty shot back rolling his eyes, but grinning all the same.  

They were somewhere in Africa today, though Bitty couldn’t remember for the life of him which country. He had it written down somewhere. They had been to so many different countries over the past few weeks that Bitty had lost track of where he was from day to day. All the travel, and the wildnerness made it difficult to keep up making videos on his vlog especially as he rarely had a kitchen to bake in, but he didn’t mind as much as he had expected. He had even made an apple crisp for Jack over their campfire on one of their extended camping excursions to find “true wild places.” He was never going to forget the look on Jack’s face when he had present him with the dessert. 

“But… we’re in the middle of the woods! How did you make pie in the middle of the woods?!” He had demanded. 

“It’s not techinically a pie.” Bitty had answered good naturedly. “And that is just what I do. I make desserts appear. I want to be a baker remember?” He had added. To his surprise Jack had taken out his camera and taken a picture of Bitty and his improvised dessert, before digging in. 

“I’m captioning this one. Best Assistant Ever.” Jack murmured, around a mouthful of apple crisp. He took another bite and moaned in a way that Bitty couldn’t help but thinking was almost obscene. “Or maybe magical pie genie.” he added. Bitty had laughed brightly, honored by the praise. 

“Well thank you. Maybe someday if I ever start my bakery you can endorse me.” He said with a smile, dishing up Jack some more of the crisp. 

“You are never opening your own bakery.” Jack told him seriously. Bitty was taken aback for a moment before Jack continued. “That would involve you leaving me, and I’m not letting that happen.” Bitty blushed. 

“I mean, not if you can just magically make pies this good appear in the middle of the woods…” Jack had muttered, turning a little red himself. “And you blow good bubbles too… so… yeah….” He was so awkward it was the most adorable thing Bitty had ever seen. 

“Bittle!” Jack called, snapping Bitty back to the present. “Remind me again why I didn’t just hire a five year old child to do this, if you’re just going to let your mind wander whenever you feel like it?” he asked. It was his favorite point to tease Bitty about. How this was actually literally child’s play, and can’t Bitty do better than a child. They had been working together long enough that Bitty knew Jack was in fact teasing. It had taken him a while to understand that Jack wasn’t actually angry with him most of the time, he was just a very serious gruff type of person sometimes, with a very dry sense of humor. 

“Child labor laws.” Bitty shot back after blowing a fresh cloud of bubbles, laughing as they blew back into his face. (He didn’t notice that Jack had pointed the camera at him instead of the wilderness). 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Bittle, come on, we need to get going.” Jack called.  

They had just finished lunch at the one restaurant in a very small town in northern Japan. Jack wanted to get some shots up on a mountain that afternoon. Bitty had ducked back into the kitchen of the restaurant though. He just wanted to ask if they might share the recipe of the dish that Jack had eaten. It had been delicious when Jack had let him try some. The chef was very kind, and spoke enough English to explain how to prepare the dish. Bitty was jotting notes down in his journal when Jack came into the kitchen. 

“I just want to get the last of this recipe down.” Bitty told Jack absently, not looking up from what he was writing. Jack’s exhasperated sigh was a familiar sound by now. 

“Bittle, we can’t stop for recipes every time we eat.” He pointed out. Bitty ignored him in favor of asking the man for his name and the name of the restaurant so he could jot down the origin of the recipe. He was looking forward to playing around with it. 

“Why not? This is my future, Jack.” He answered when he finally turned to him. They left the kitchen together. Bitty was always surprised by how easy it was to fall in step next to Jack when the photographer was so much taller than him. 

“Yes, but this is your present and we need to get up there quickly.” Jack told him, passing him a half empty bottle of bubbles. (The amount of bubbles they were going through was truly ridiculous, Bitty had left a trail of empty bottles behind him in trash cans across the globe). 

“The wilderness will still be there in an hour, Jack, calm down.” Bitty told him. 

“Hey! This is serious.” Jack objected, but there was a small smile on his face. 

“No Jack, this is bubbles. You’re dragging me up, yet another mountain, to blow bubbles. None of this is serious.” Bitty reminded him. Jack managed to maintain a stern straight faced expression for about four seconds before he started laughing, Bitty joining him. 

“We still can’t stop every single meal.” Jack reminded him though the stern effect was lost somewhat since he was still chuckling. 

“You’re the boss.” Bitty told him. 

Still, the next time they had a meal that Bitty declared truly delicious Bitty didn’t even have time to ask Jack if he might ask for a recipe before the older man was off doing it for himself. He returned to a stunned flattered Bitty with a notcard. 

“Here.” Jack muttered, as if it was no big deal, offering Bitty the notecard with the recipe. Bitty accepted it wordlessly tucking it into his notebook. He wasn’t sure exactly why this did seem like such a big deal to him, but the recipe was one of his most treasured new aquisitions. It was several minutes before he even realized that he hadn’t said thank you. When he did Jack waved him off. 

“It’s your future right?” He asked, “I want you to have a good one.” Bitty had been left touched and rather speechless for the second time that day.

From that time on Jack never complained about Bitty’s recipe gathering. He often asked if Bitty wanted to take a moment to look around at local food, or even found recipes for Bitty himself. He was so damn sweet about it. Bitty found himself melting every time Jack offered him something new. Or smiled… Or did much of anything. His long held rule that one could not fall for one’s boss was starting to crumble. (If he was being honest with himself that ship had probably sailed a long time ago).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So why exactly did you decide to do this again?” Bitty asked Jack one night as they sat next to a campfire. 

“I told you. It’s about the juxtaposition of-” Jack started. 

“No, not the speil the art critiques will get. I want the real reason. I mean how did you even get the idea?” Bitty interrupted. Jack smiled. 

“It was Shitty really.” He answered after a moment. “My best friend, I’ve mentioned him before, I’m sure.” He added in explanation. 

“Yeah, a few times. He sounds like quite the character.” Bitty agreed, grinning. Jack chuckled. 

“He is that.” He muttered. “Anyway, one day Shitty just showed up at my door with a two bottles of bubbles and said he was sick of the real world, and told me to get in the car. So I did. He drove us out into the middle of a park and we just sat around blowing bubbles and talking about stupid shit. He was probably high. It’s hard to tell with Shitty sometimes. I was sitting there feeling so damn content and I looked out over the bubbles floating through the trees and just thought it was beautiful. So I told Shitty I absolutely needed to turn this into a photo-series and he told me to follow my dreams, then blew bubbles in my face.” Jack said, grinning at the memory. “Maybe I just really like bubbles.” He added. That made Bitty laugh.

“I think we’ve established that that is most definitely true.” He told Jack. “Sounds like Shitty’s a good friend. Even if he’s a bit out there. What did you say he does again?” 

“Shits is the best friend. He’s the most supportive guy you’ll ever meet.” Jack agreed. “He’s a lawyer actually. Graduated top of his class at Harvard Law.” He added, clearly enjoying Bitty’s shocked face. 

“Seriously?” Bitty asked. “This isn’t a Jack Zimmermann I-can-say-the-most-ridiculous-things-with-a-straight-face style joke?”

“I swear to god. Shitty’s a great lawyer. If you ever happen to need legal representation, look him up. Bartholomew Knight. He’s very big on equality of all genders, sexualities, races etc. He’ll defend anyone who’s being discriminated against to his last damn breath.” 

“Somehow I don’t think anyone in the baking community is going to discriminate against me for being gay, but if they do, I’ll be sure to look him up.” Bitty answered with a grin. (He didn’t notice Jack’s breath catching at this open declaration of being gay, or the almost hopeful look in his eyes).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bitty gets the job offer when they are back in the states. The bakery had his application from when he had applied several months ago, long before Jack. The baker’s apprentice had quit suddenly, had to leave town for family reasons leaving the man rather short staffed. He asked if Bitty still wanted a job. Bitty had asked for twenty four hours to think about it, even though it was exactly what he had wanted before… Before Jack. Now they’re in the South, doing one last shoot amongst trees covered in Spanish Moss. He can’t believe how much he doesn’t want to leave this. He doesn’t want this amzing journey to end. He doesn’t want to leave the side of this amazing incredible man, not now, not ever really. 

“What was that about?” Jack asked. Bitty shook his head. 

“We’ll talk about it later.” He said, wanting to savor this one last day with Jack. “The bubbles aren’t going to blow themselves after all.” He added with a somewhat forced smile. 

He knew this would have to end. He knew that this was only temporary even if he had stayed on past this particular journey. Eventually he was always going to have to move on with his life. After all this was their last day of this shoot anyway, they were flying north again tomorrow, back to Boston where they both lived. Still… it hurt more than Bitty wanted to admit to think about leaving Jack. There was no use in trying to say that it was just a job. They were friends, that was not even questionable anymore, and Jack was so much more to Bitty even if he didn’t have a hope of Jack thinking of him in the same way. 

“So what was the call about?” Jack asked again over dinner that night. 

“Oh, it was a baker in Boston, asking if I still needed a job. His assistant had to leave. He still had my application from before… I told I’d get back to him tomorrow.” Bitty told Jack, trying to sound excited. Jack’s smile only faltered for half a second (so briefly that Bitty couldn’t even be sure that it had really happened) before spreading into a wide grin. 

“That’s fantastic, Bitty!” he said. Eric was too caught up in sorrowful thoughts of leaving to appreciate Jack’s rare use of his nickname. 

“You think I should go for it then? I mean, I know I’d be leaving on short notice, and that’s not really okay, and-”

“Bittle, don’t be ridiculous. Of course you should go for it. It’s what you want. It’s your life. I don’t really need an assistant in day to day life anyway, this trip was… unique. Besides it’s what you’re best at.” Jack told him. “Though a fair argument could be made for the fact that you blow beautiful bubbles.” He added with a smile. Bitty couldn’t help smiling at that. 

“You sure you’re okay with it?” He asked. 

“Of course.” Jack told him firmly. “Besides we’ll still be living in the same city. And you had better come to the opening of this show.” He added. The opening was the culmination of the whole trip, and would take place at one of the nicest galleries in town in three weeks. All of Jack and Bitty’s photos on display for everyone to see. 

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Bitty promised. “And you had better stay in touch Mr. Zimmermann. You can’t just drag a guy all over this earth for weeks and then never talk to him again.” 

“Thought never crossed my mind.” Jack promised. Bitty smiled softly feeling a little bit better. He wouldn’t lose Jack forever then. They would still be friends. Friends would have to be enough for Bitty. He told himself that it was enough. (It would never be enough). 

When he and Jack parted ways at the Boston airport the next day Bitty felt oddly lopsided. Like there was an empty space next to him where Jack should be. They had spent so long in each other’s pockets that it was extraordinarily strange to just… leave. But that was it. He had hugged Jack goodbye, wishing that he had the guts to do more than hug him, and then left. He tried not to focus on the empty space. He had a lot to do, a new job to get ready for. He was excited. Bitty was excited. (He wondered if he could make that true by thinking it enough). 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Despite the promises that they were close by and they would see lots of each other, Bitty didn’t see Jack again until the opening. They texted a lot. Eric couldn’t help it. There were so many times throughout the day when he would see something and think of a comment he would say to Jack, to make him smile or laugh, or just something he thought Jack would appreciate, and he couldn’t not share them with him. It was harder, since he had gotten awfully used to Jack always being there to talk to, but texting would have to do for the time being. Bitty was actually quite busy at his new job.

Even though he had been hesitant about starting it, about leaving Jack, the new job really was everything Bitty could have hoped for. He was working in a bakery at last. It was fantastic. His boss, Mr. Norris (but please call me Bill) gave him a lot of free reign to do his own projects as long as he made what he needed to for the store. Besides sometimes Bitty’s stuff sold better than the bakery’s normal fare. He got along with everyone. He got to bake all day, even if it meant keeping bakery hours (aka ungodly early) and he had everything he could have ever wanted (except Jack). He told Jack all about it, and Jack answered enthusiastically, and told him about which photos turned out the best, and which ones were going in the show. Bitty was so excited to see all of them properly printed out and framed. He would also be meeting Shitty, and was rather looking forward to it. 

He must have changed outfits a million times before finally settling on one, mostly because if he didn’t get a move on he would be late. He was a flustered mess. After spending weeks hiking and camping with the guy you would think Bitty wouldn’t care what he looked like in front of Jack, after all he had seen Bitty in some pretty sorry states… but after three weeks Bitty was a nervous wreck. He wondered if Jack was really as beautiful as he remembered or if he was making it more extreme in his head. He thought he was probably exaggerating. That’s what he told himself. 

When Eric reached the gallery it was already full of well dressed people, wandering around with glasses of champagne, admiring the well lit photos on the wall. Bitty hardly even glanced at the pictures though, his gaze focused in on Jack immediately. Damn. He had been wrong. Jack was actually more absurdly handsome than he remembered. He was wearing a suit, and talking to a guy with a pony-tail and a ridiculous mustache that Bitty knew immediately must be Shitty. As if he could somehow magically feel Bitty staring at him, Jack looked up and met his gaze. His face brightened and he strode across the room. 

“Bittle!” he exclaimed, sweeping Bitty into a hug that he was almost too shocked to return. “I’m so glad you’re here. This whole thing wouldn’t have been possible without you, after all.” 

“It’s great to see you Jack.” Bitty said, blushing. “I wouldn’t miss it, but it was all you. Honestly, a five year old could have done my job.” He added with a small smirk. Jack shook his head with a rueful smile. 

“Never.” He said. “You were absolutely indispensable.” He told him. Bitty’s blush got worse. He wished the gallery was less brightly lit. 

“I don’t know about that, but thanks anyway.” He murmured. 

“So what do you think?” Jack asked, gesturing around. Bitty took a moment to properly take in the room. The pictures truly were beautiful. He recognized all of the places, even if they looked so different caught in a still life behind glass. It was almost easier to recognize specific bubble formations, with made him smile. 

“They’re amazing, Jack.” He said honestly. “I love them, all of them. You really did manage to capture that perfect contrast of human and wilderness… it’s… it’s incredible.” he murmured, struggling to find the right words. It was Jack’s turn to blush. 

“I had the easy job.” Jack told him with a smile. “Do you have a favorite? One of these is going home with you at the end of the show.”

“Oh, Jack I couldn’t possibly!” Bitty objected, knowing that the photographs had ridiculous prices, that these people around him might pay absurd amounts for them. (Actually Bitty didn’t think it was absurd, he thought Jack earned every cent). 

“Call it a bonus.” Jack told him. “Like I said, I couldn’t have done any of it without you. Honestly I feel like you should have been given more credit than a mention in the info pamplet but they said it needed to stay focused.” Jack admitted, looking down. Bitty wanted to kiss the adorable bashful look off of Jack’s face so badly. 

“I like that one best I think.” He said pointing to one that was from their time in Canada. They had both been a little bit sleep deprived after a few days sleeping rough, camping, and they had been joking and giggling as they worked. Bitty had said something and Jack had been in the middle of laughing when he caught a nearly perfect shot of one large bubble floating across the forest floor. He wasn’t sure whether he actually liked the photo more than the other’s or just the memory it brought back. All of them came with memories though…

“It’s yours.” Jack told him, taking a small red sticker and placing it over the piece’s title card to mark it as sold. 

“Thank you, really. I can’t thank you enough.” Bitty blustered. 

“If you really want to say thank you, you can make me a pie.” Jack told him, rolling his eyes. 

“You’ve got it.” Bitty answered, brightly. “What kind?”

“Everything you do is perfect, I trust you.” Jack answered. Bitty blushed, reminding himself that Jack was talking about everything as in everything baking, not just ‘Everything.’

“Come on, you need to meet Shitty and Lardo.” Jack added, pulling Bitty through the crowd back to Shitty and a small girl who had joined him. Bitty assumed the dimunitve person had to be Lardo, Jack’s other best friend and Shitty’s…. Something. (Even Jack was not quite sure what the label on them was, all he knew was that those two loved each other more than life itself. That was all that mattered anyway). 

Shitty was every bit as over the top as Jack had described. Lardo was as well, in a different way though. Bitty thought that if he hadn’t known Jack so well he might have been surprised by Jack’s friends. The photographer himself was so reserved most of the time, quiet, and introverted, not someone who you would imagine might befriend someone life Shitty. Bitty knew Jack well enough though, to realize that this was exactly why his friendship with Shitty worked so well. In the end Bitty got along fantastically with Shitty and Lardo, and they both traded numbers with him before they headed out as the event started to wind down. Bitty hadn’t even noticed that it was getting so late, he was so caught up in talking to Shitty and Lardo and Jack (and Jack and Jack and Jack…)

“Do you want to see my favorite picture from the trip?” Jack asked, looking almost nervous. Bitty nodded fervently. Instead of pointing to one of the many frames on the walls Jack beckoned him towards a door to a back room. 

“It’s not on display. It doesn’t quite fit with the rest of them.” he said quietly. Bitty was confused but followed as Jack led him into the empty back room, and towards where a messenger bag sat on a chair. To his surprise, Jack pulled a normal sized photograph out of the bag, passing it to Bitty. He was definitely nervous, Bitty noted. Then he looked down at the picture and his mind went blank. 

“Oh.” He murmured quietly, staring down at a picture of himself, laughing as bubbles surrounded him in the middle of a sunlit clearing 

“It’s the most beautiful one in the gallery.” Jack whispered. “You… you were the most beautiful thing on the whole trip.” Bitty knew how much it must have cost for Jack to say those words. To have the courage that Bitty hadn’t had. Finally, Eric just stepped forwards and leaned up on tiptoe to kiss Jack. The photo fluttered back down onto the chair as Bitty wrapped his arms tightly around Jack like he might never let go. He never wanted to. 

When they finally broke apart they were both a little breathless, and Bitty chuckled a bit, not sure if he was nervous, embarrassed or just too damn happy to contain it. 

“Well then.” He murmured. “I don’t suppose you’d like to get dinner with me sometime?” he asked. 

“I would like nothing better.” Jack told him, then leaned back down to capture his lips again. 

When they finally make it back into the gallery it is empty of people. Bitty stands in the center of the room turning to look at all of the photographs one last time. He takes in the memories they all bring back, realizing that he is standing in a room full of wordless love letters that he and Jack had been creating together before they even knew it. 

A month later finds Bitty dragging Jack into a Boston park on a Sunday afternoon, picnic basket over one arm, a mysterious bag that he refuses to reveal the contents of in the other. Jack follows him, grinning at his boyfriend as Bitty stops at the top of a grassy hill and spreads out his picnic basket. He lays out all of the food, including a delicious looking cherry pie. Then turns to Jack and demands he close his eyes. 

“Why?” Jack whined, even as he complied. 

“Because it’s a surprise, and it won’t be a surprise if you can see what I’m doing.” Bitty answers, and Jack can hear the smile in his voice. There are a few moments when all Jack can hear is Bitty rustling around in his mystery bag, and then an odd whirring sort of sound, before Bitty finally settles back down by his side. 

“Okay, open your eyes.” He commands, voice brimming with excitement. Jack immediately laughs upon opening his eyes. They are enveloped in a cloud of bubbles being turned out by a machine that Bitty had been hiding away.

“You’re perfect.” Jack mumured to Bitty, leaning over to kiss him sweetly. 

They eat their picnic in a swirl of sunlight, cherry flavored kisses, and bubbles. Neither of them minding if the bubbles end up popping on their food or their faces. The moment is too perfect to be spoiled by anything.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay now everyone say bubbles in the angriest voice they can with a straight face.
> 
> Anyway I encourage all of you to embrace your inner child and go blow some bubbles today. If you take pictures, please send them to me, I will make sure go list links in these notes!
> 
> Thank you for reading! As always Comments and Kudos are greatly appreciated


End file.
